The Evening Brief: July 27, 2012

Culled:

•  Dewhurst loans his campaign another $8 million (Houston Chronicle): "Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst loaned his campaign another $8 million in the last two weeks in his effort to capture the Republican nomination for a Texas Senate seat, federal reports show. That puts his total at $24.5 million in self-loans to his campaign. His latest loan, made July 23, was for $3 million, according to Federal Election Commission reports detailing campaign finances in the days leading up to the July 31 runoff race."

•  Cruz mailer depicts Pennsylvania jail builder as helpmate to prosecutors; Dewhurst aide calls that ‘phony’ description (The Dallas Morning News): "A new Ted Cruz mailer depicts Senate GOP runoff opponent David Dewhurst as weak at curtailing state spending and desperate to obscure his record as lieutenant governor by 'lying about Ted Cruz.' Under the heading of 'Dewhurst Juvenile Prison Lies,' the mailer says: 'Truth: Ted Cruz worked on a civil case for the individual who HELPED prosecutors put the corrupt judges behind bars.'"

•  RedState hammers Dewhurst (Politico): "If someone had told you at the beginning of the election cycle that there was a Texas Republican running for Senate who had the backing of Gov. Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, the PACs representing the realtors, the farm bureau, the doctors, the retailers and restaurant associations and Right to Life, among others, it would have been a safe bet to say that candidate would be the next senator. … [RedState] Editor Erick Erickson wrote Thursday that, despite Dewhurst’s criticism of Obamacare and his claims of being a “proven conservative,” the lieutenant governor really isn’t one.

•  Texas’s House Delegation Avoids Senate Race (National Review): "Nearly 1.4 million Texans voted in May’s U.S. Senate primary, and they’ll return to the polls on July 31 for the runoff between former solicitor general Ted Cruz and current lieutenant governor David Dewhurst — but so far, only two of the 23 Texas Republican members of the U.S. House have endorsed either candidate."

•  UT researcher’s paper should not have been published, audit finds (Austin American-Statesman): "A study by a University of Texas researcher that raised doubts about the parenting abilities of gay couples should never have been published because of flaws that peer reviewers failed to identify, according to a draft audit obtained by the Chronicle of Higher Education."

•  TransCanada gets final OK for Gulf part of Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, construction to start (The Associated Press): "A Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands region to Texas refineries has received a final permit for the Gulf Coast portion of the project and announced Friday that construction on the 485-mile section would start in the coming weeks."

•  Is Sid Miller In Trouble? (The Texas Observer): "It’s been a banner year for Sid Miller. After more than a decade in the Texas House, the state representative from Stephenville became a kind of national shorthand for folksy intrusion into women’s health decisions, the broad leather grin stuffed into the white cowboy hat over Rick Perry’s shoulder. … Texas Republicans should be going nuts for this guy. So how come he couldn’t even get half the votes in his primary race?"

New in The Texas Tribune:

•  Yarbrough Pushes for Amnesty in Latest Ad: "In the second television ad of his U.S. Senate campaign, Democrat Grady Yarbrough advocates for sealing the border 'by whatever means necessary' and granting citizenship to millions of illegal immigrant workers."

•  Once a Sprint but Now a Slog, Election Nears End: "With 37 runoff races on the ballot Tuesday, a political primary season that was originally supposed to wrap up in May is finally coming to an end."